Beautiful but Poor — page 18: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

se Reet ere eT nt Ree ae Gey abe ines "sap Rs an ae PL MG ME seeM iN Seam en Ho moan (a Ny See AY EAT NG i¥ ty A. sig 4 use , ‘ 7 et f ast 3 : . ie m ™. “ . at 4 en / oy Ss ay oe He Soe Si BEAUTIFUL BUT POOR. — 9 mission of Biddy Lanigan, ironed them on Satur- day evenings in the kitchen, for she had even a kind word for Biddy, and kind words are almost as pre- clous as gold to the poor. Hattie seldom was able to earn over four dollars a week, as wages ran, and thus she had but little to use for dress, though she was ever dressed with ex- ceeding taste, plain though her garments were. These she cut and made, buying. the patterns and goods only. When she had overwork she made more, and she had been seen with a bank-book in her hand, so it was evident she had saved something to help along with should sickness overtake her. She had been two years and one week boarding at Miss Scrimp’s, when one Thursday the postman, or mail-carrier, rather, delivered a letter at the door di- rected to her. Hattie was down at the bindery then, and Jessie Albemarle, answering the bell, got the letter. She would have kept it till Hattie came, but her mistress demanded to see it, and took charge of it. Little Jess had seen that it was a large letter, postmarked from somewhere in California, and that it had a singular seal:in wax on the back. The im- pression represented two hearts pierced with an ar- row. The address was only the name, street, number, and city. - Miss Scrimp looked at it very closely. Had there been no seal, only gum as a closing medium, if is possible her examination might have been closer. Biddy Lanigan, once when she quarreled with her mistress and employer, boldly twitted her with hav- -ecomicbooks co